Posted by jrod on March 24, 2009 under SA, TAS | 
The big sexy man of Australian domestic cricket has finally given up the ghost. Whether he chose to retire or was pushed by strong wristed men we will not know.
Dan has been a fantastic servant of Australian domestic cricket. He was old school all the way. As a batsman he was barely talented enough to play first class cricket. His tweakers were change bowling partnership breakers of someone with a clever cricket mind. His captaining was his one real skill. He was world class as a captain.
However when looking at Dan’s career you have to look at him as a whole, not the sum of his parts. He was Australian as any cricketer who ever wore the baggy green. He was a mongrel, attacking, uncompromising, a cricket genius, a knock about bloke, tough to beat, cricket fit, he did things his way and he played the game hard.
He was the 70/80s streetfighting Australian cricketer. A hard bastard to get out, a tough fucker to get away, and a sonofabitch of a captain. While he was well respected in shield cricket, there were more than a few who hated him as well. The sign of a top cricketer.
He was the last of the sonofabitch state captains, Berry, Emery and Maher having already left before him. Now we have college graduate captains who look like they wouldn’t walk into any bar that Marsh would be a regular in him.
Marsh was the grumpy old smart ass captain who probably only made it through by the force of his personality and his desire to win. State cricket will be slightly lesser for him leaving it.
You don’t have to be an international cricketer to help Australian cricket. He made his team mates better, and made his opposition try harder, without people like Daniel Marsh, Australia would not have dominated for as long as it did.
He might not have played for his Country, but he did the Marsh name proud. I am sure Rod would agree with me.
Posted by jrod on March 12, 2009 under NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA |
Shield Cricket
Phillip Hughes (NSW) nuff said
Chris Rogers (VIC) 4th best opener in Australia, not a bad back up up
Michael Klinger (SA) the hebrew hammer is all over
Lee Carseldine (QLD) those space age rods in his back are going well these days
Callum Ferguson (SA) Two South Australian batsman, amazing
Marcus North (c) (WA) Once upon a time this is as much as he could have hoped for
Graham Manou (vc) (SA) Is he number 2?
Brett Geeves (TAS) 99*
Steve Magoffin (WA) Go the Magoff
Brett Dorey (WA) 3 storey dorey deserves this, and i don’t think he will ever get a higher posting again
Dirk Nannes (VIC) BOUT FUCKING TIME
12th Ryan Harris (QLD) Was he 12th man last year as well?
One Day Team
Michael Klinger (SA) LOL
David Warner (NSW) This is a come down for him
Lee Carseldine (QLD) the dude is everywhere
Callum Ferguson (SA) him too
Travis Birt (TAS) Turtle, the man can play one day cricket
Marcus North (c) (WA) better captain than the one day player
Graham Manou (vc) (SA) there he is again
Aaron Heal (WA) the son of billy bowden, fair bowler too
Brett Geeves (TAS) Fair one day player really
Shane Harwood (VIC) the only vic in the one day side
Ben Laughlin (QLD) never heard of him, he’ll never get anywhere
12th Chris Rogers (VIC) Behind Klinger, that hurts
Twenty20
Brad Hodge (c) (VIC) the ego has landed (the top job)
Dan Harris (SA) deserves this, is an explosive hitter
Lee Carseldine (QLD) fuck me he is everywhere
David Hussey (VIC) never misses a chance in 2020 cricket
Nathan Reardon (QLD) had a pretty good season
Callum Ferguson (SA) not a bad season for an unknown
Graham Manou (vc) (SA) 3 from 3
Jason Krejza (TAS) has to do something with his spare time
Shane Harwood (VIC) got him a ticket to South Africa, hope he does better than Mick Lewis
Umar Gul (WA) Who wouod have thunk it?
Dirk Nannes (VIC) TOO FUCKEN RIGHT
12th Rhett Lockyear (TAS) Isn’t he usually 12th man for Australia?
Posted by jrod on March 8, 2009 under SA, TAS |
Tasmania were left with a pretty simple objective, win match, play final.
With the Vics killing New Texas, Tassie had fate in their hands.
They dropped it.
After the first innings was complete, Tasmania found themselves about 50 in front, not a massive lead, but handy in the situation.
They had bowled South Australia out for 253, so when they went on to make 289 and set the redbacks 338, that should have been enough for them to win.
It wasn’t, South Australia made it look pretty easy, only losing 5 wickets and having 15 overs in the bank.
Mark Cosgrove was the difference, his comeback has been the happiest time in his life since he played for Australia and got free KFC.
2 hundreds in 3 matches, and he has now proves that fatty boom bah or not, the man I s first class batsman of some skill.
The redbacks finish the season 3rd, and considering how bad they have been, it is a great result. This is also the firs time they have won 3 games on the trot in 15 years, which tells you how shit they have been.
Tasmania finish it 4th, and should be spanked by hairy men for the next 6 months.
How a team with this much talent has finished 4th is beyond me, although to be fair, Western Australia has finished 6th, so talent had less to do with this years results than desire and team harmony.
Tim Paine has not come along, which must burn Tasmania with Matthew Wade the most inform batsman of all keepers in the country.
Luke Butterworth is finally back in the side, but is not the allrounder everyone thought he would be.
George Bailey has still never had a huge season, and you have to ask if he ever will.
From the 06/07 side only Geeves and Hilfenhaus have gone onto higher honours.
They just have that air of underperformance about them, and with Dan Marsh 83 years old, they would want some of these people to stand up next year, or they will really struggle.
Posted by jrod on February 27, 2009 under NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA |
With Luke Ronchi dropped, and Tim Paine unable to live up to his potential the race for back up test keeper is wide open.
Should Haddin get injured, no one could accurately predict who the next keeper would be.
The front runner should be Manou, but really it isn’t. No one has ever talked him up, even though he has carried the Redbacks for 2 years now. Very tidy, if not brilliant with the gloves. His career average of 23 is ordinary, but in the last two years he has averaged around 36 with 4 hundreds. Has a bit of mongrel in him as well. Perfect back up keeper, would be grateful for the opportunity. Not a long term proposition at 29 though.
Chris Hartley might be the man to jump the queue. Is the best regular gloveman in the country, and with Crosthwaite, are the only two guys who are proper old school keepers. His career batting average is 27, but is in career best form with the bat, has one hundred this year, 3 50s and that is not including his 82* overnight in the current match. Of all the keepers in Australia only he and Manou seem to be safe in their jobs.
Victoria’s keeping is a mess, but for good reasons. Wade and Crosthwaite are probably the 3rd and 4th best options in Australia at the moment, and they are continuing to fight for one spot. Crosthwaite has made the side as a batsman this year, Wade has done it for the last two years. Wade’s glovework doesn’t impress me (although he has 51 catches in 8 games this year), but his batting is solid. The only thing he hadn’t done is kick on and make a hundred, well he did that yesterday, so in 19 first class games he has 1 hundred and 4 50s, and is 21. Having someone as good as Crossy behind him seems to be spurring him on. Maybe not ready to be number two, but will be mid 20s when Haddin is due for retirement.
Daniel Smith could be the roughie, not that I think he is good enough, but people seem to like him, and he is from NSWales, so that has to put him in the running. Has averaged 26 in 18 games, which seems to be about the same for all the back ups. Can play, but is probably a bit too hit and miss as a back up.
At one stage I wanted Tim Paine to replace Gilly. Watching him bat you can actually see the talent ooze out of him (not a semen joke). But where are the results, he hasn’t made big scores with the bat, and his keeping is adequate at best. With an average of 30 he pretty much tops this list, but he has made only one hundred in the last 3 years, and for his talent that is not good enough. Could still replace Haddin, but he must frustrate the selectors, and that could count against him.
Over in Western Australia Luke Ronchi has lost the support of Tom Moody. Last season he averaged 40 with the bat and made 64 off about 8 balls when understudying for Haddin. This year he has averaged 20, and is on the outs. Has an amazing amount of talent with the bat, but his keeping is only so so. Who knows where he is in the list now.
Right at the moment I’d go with Hartley, but it would surprise me if almost anyone on this list gets picked.
Posted by Moses on February 23, 2009 under NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA |
That innings loss to the Mexican’s is but a small hickup on the road to our 46th Sheffield Shield.
First, lets have a look at the table with two rounds to go. Sure sitting in 5th place on 16 points is not ideal, and with Tassie sitting pretty on 24 and our not getting a chance to play them, we’re banking a lot on an implosion of note on the apple isle.
Obviously NSWales will get outright victories from our remaining two matches, finishing our regular season on 28 points. Here’s the events beyond our control that also needs to fall into place for us to retain our title:
- Tassie to gain at most 4 points from VIC and SA. This would force a tie, however we’d likely make it through on equal outright victories (4) and a better quotient.
- QLD to not beat VIC outright
- WA to get 0 points from our match
Then we’ll meet the VICs at the MCG for the Final where they’ll choke as is their custom. Easy As.
Fixtures
Thu 26 – Sun 1 Tasmania v Victoria, Hobart
Thu 26 – Sun 1 Queensland v New South Wales, Brisbane
Thu 26 – Sun 1 Western Australia v South Australia, WACA
Thu 5 – Sun 8 New South Wales v Western Australia, SCG
Thu 5 – Sun 8 South Australia v Tasmania, Adelaide
Thu 5 – Sun 8 Victoria v Queensland, MCG
Posted by Moses on February 9, 2009 under NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA |
Travis Birt, Unlucky
Now that I’ve dropped Cameron White and David Hussey, the search has begun for a new number 6 and 7 in the Aussie ODI squad. I’ve taken a look at
the scorecards from our Domestic F50 competition and compiled a list of all the batting performances where more than 20 are scored at greater than a run a ball. The most recent performances are listed first.
Birt, TR 86(66), 94(80), 67(56), 25(15)
Smith, DLR 29*(13), 28*(26)
Manou, GA 48* (39)
Warner 31(20), 97(54), 165*(112)
MG Dighton 59(58), 87(76)
Klinger 133*(128)
Ferguson, C 52(35), 32(26), 101(83)
Hopes J 76(61), 42(40)
Bailey, GJ 32(28)
Divin, MA 38(31)
Ronchi, L 80(64)
AK, Heal 43(34)
Quiney 42(40), 16(15), 92(85), 73(63)
Crosthwaite, AJ 52(49), 29(17)
Thornely, DJ 108(90)
Doropoulos, TP 92(75)
Henriques, MC 41(37)
Borgas, CJ 39(35)
I’ve quite possibly missed some, if anyone can point me towards a tool that pulls out domestic data rather than having to manually read the scorecards, that would be most appreciated.
Looking purely at the numbers, the standout domestic performers are:
Travis Birt from Tasmania
Travis is the form pinch hitter in the domestic T50 competition with his 7 innings yielding 363 runs at 60.5 and at a strike rate of 122! His returns this year are:
- 1/11/08 56*(37) vs SA
- 12/11/08 25(15) vs Vic
- 29/11/08 34(38) vs NSW (the game where Warner scored 165*(112)
- 07/12/08 67(56) vs NSW
- 10/12/08 94(80) vs SA
- 14/12/08 1(5) vs QLD
- 07/02/08 86(66) vs VIC (this low scoring game Tas made 197 and VIC made 189)
David Warner from NSW
Dave has already been given a shot in the national setup with promising signs but too many failures. From his 8 starts there have been 3 good innings, yielding 89(43) on debut, 69(60) in his 4th match, and 22(29) in his 6th match when he was very unlucky to be run-out.
Combine these scores with Dave’s domestic highlights of 31(20), 97(54), 165*(112) and it’s easy to agree he has the destructive power hitting would really dominate the batting powerplay without the additional pressure of opening. I’d like to see Dave given a go down the order, where he’ll have a chance to perform without the added pressure of opening.
Callum Ferguson from South Australia
His stand out performances include 52(35), 32(26) and 101(83). It’s good to see him given a shot in the Aussie side, though I would have picked Birt first purely on the numbers. Callum played well last night before a Bucknor howler cut short his opportunity. Who did the BCCI ask to wipe him from their fixtures, and can we please be added to this list?
James Hopes from Queensland
In the two games that Hopes played for Queensland he’s opened in both, scoring 76(61) and 42(40). I’d like to see him given an extended run at the top of our order, his tight straight bowling will keep him in the squad regardless. Ideally we’d have a run of 2 or maybe even 3 ODI’s without changing our openers, wouldn’t that be nice.
Adam Voges from Western Australia
Conversely, Adam Voges has made the squad without topping a run a ball all year. Now he’s the one our selectors have picked to apply ‘pressure’ to Hussey and White, yet even if he were to continue his domestic results at the higher lever I don’t believe this would be enough. His 295 runs at 49.2 certainly doesn’t constitute bad numbers, but his strike rate of just 70.2 is not get our 300+ mojo back.
- 8/10/08 13(35) vs NSW
- 24/10/08 56(78) vs Tas
- 16/11/08 104(119) vs SA
- 26/11/08 39(72) vs VIC
- 20/12/08 78(108) vs VIC
- 23/12/08 5(8) vs NSW
If we were after a reliable batsman then Simon Katich would have to be the first picked, selecting Voges in this form to me makes little sense.
Tags: aaron heal, adam crosthwaite, adam voges, callum ferguson, cameron borgas, cameron white, daniel smith, dave warner, david hussey, david warner, dominic thornley, george bailey, grant manou, james hopes, luke ronchi, mark divin, michael dighton, moises henriques, pinch hitter, rob quiney, simon katich, theo doropoulos, travis birt
Posted by jrod on December 12, 2008 under SA, VIC |
When I was in Australia no one seemed to care much about Pakistanis.
I blamed it all on a guy who played at my club who would appeal and send you off in the nets by the Salman.
No one liked Salman, ofcourse little of this had to do with his nationality, and mostly the sending off in the nets, and for those few unlucky enough to bat with him, his complete lack of single taking when he was facing until the last ball of the over.
But now Salman, or as I tried to nick name him, the big fish, has departed from club cricket, Pakistanis are finally getting a fair go.
It all stared with Usman Khawaja from NSWales.
Who in being picked for NSWales, has been the first Pakistani born cricketer to ever play for Australia, if you catch my drift.
Then South Australia couldn’t find any more talented players in NSWales or Victoria, so they went looking overseas, and found Younis Elvis Khan.
Khan has contributed a respectable 217 runs (one hungy, one fitty) @ 43 in 3 matches, but has spent most of his time watching the Hebrew Hammer Klinger bat.
So he has really earnt his money.
But he has other commitments mid season, or whatever, and so South Australia thought they would dip back into the well, and since its 2020 season, and Graham Napier is buys in Wellington they have picked Sohail Tanvir (subject to the indians not touring Pakistan).
The worlds best 2020 bowler, just pipping out Dirty Dirk Nannes for the title.
Since when has Adelaide been so into the brown sugar?
Since they produced Australia’s first ever aboriginal test cricketer, I spose, but this season they will have had one aboriginal player in my man daniel christian, and two Pakistanis.
Not too mention Michael Klinger, who is not called the Hebrew Hammer because he looks like Adam Goldberg.
They will perhaps be the most multicultural first class team in Australia since Richard Chee Quee (China), played alongside Greg Matthews (fuck knows).
If nothing else this does open up the One Aboriginal, Two Pakistanis and a Jew walk into a bar jokes.
cricketwithballs
Posted by jrod on November 12, 2008 under SA, VIC |
While losing a one day game is not the end of the world, in the scheme of things this was a bad day.
Most of Victoria’s bowlers were scored off with gay abandon, but that happens.
The Angry man took a 5 for & and Brad Ego made a hundred , but it wasn’t enough.
Dirty Dirk missed the game, for unknown reasons, but he can’t play in them all.
And Victoria lost, but that is not what makes it a bad day.
It’s a bad day because the Hebrew hammer Michael Klinger made a double hundred for South Australia.
9 fucking years he played for us, and not a cracker.
All we had were false dawns, nervous nudges, and so many times he looked out of his depth.
Most people in the know would say he was worth the wait, but how long should any team have to wait.
So we assholed him, probably too late.
But every year he would tease us, making the most runs in the one dayers, or scoring his debut ton.
So we kept him, and we kept him, and we kept him, and what did we get, fucking zero.
Now we throw him away, so South Australia can deal with him.
We didn’t expect much, neither did they probably.
Some serviceable half centuries, painfully slow 40 odds, and him getting out at the wrong time over and over again.
Well fuck me in the earhole if he isn’t the most inform batsman in Australian domestic cricket, and by some way.
No one could have expected this.
For the first time in his lie his career average of over 30, and has just scored his first double century.
Midway through his 4th game he has 582 runs at an average of 116.
Who is this man, and what has he done with the Hebrew Hammer?
This isn’t the normal case of shield cricket, where a player just can’t get into the side like Hussey, Miller or Gilchrist. You can’t blame the selectors.
He was in the side, all too often, so why couldn’t we make him work.
South Australia haven’t had him long enough to have fixed him, and with Klinger was it was never a technique thing.
Is it the Klinger Kurve, formally known as the Lehmann round bits, where the batsman is just pretty good, but is feasting on Radelaide Oval tracks, and is just pretty good elsewhere.
Was it some force from inside the team, did the man just need a huge kick up the ass, or has he met two twins from Adelaide that like to party.
Either way Victoria is the loser here.
Bad day for Victoria I tells ya.
Posted by Moses on October 24, 2008 under NSW, SA |
Man Hair
Bloody Hell, we lost to the Redbacks! Surely even NSW F should be able to whip the whipping boys, but Shaun Tait with 5/27 says No. Mind you, Shaun Tait also says he should go to India due to his impressive record against them (21 overs, 1 maiden, 0/92 in Perth) and his proven ability to reverse swing the white ball implying he’ll find the magic with the SG Ball that the incumbent Baggy Green bowlers and their coach one Troy Cooley have thus far failed to. Life must be just peachy in Shaun’s Head.
Now I’m not going to make excuses for the loss, by all accounts Tait was devastating with the ball, and it’s not like losing our top 27 players to an India tour and another to a debilitating man-hair injury has adversely effected us.
As long as NSW continue to breed the big names we should pull through this season, and if we can find a way to make the finals then get our big guns back we’ll probably win the Shield, again.
Posted by jrod on October 17, 2008 under SA, VIC |
Graham Manou.
After his team scramble on the back of the Hebrew Hammer’s 150, and then bowl out the Victorians for 150, South Australia only needed 270 with 60 overs to get them in.
A pretty good chase for a team that had 6 for 473 scored off them in the first innings.
It takes guts to go for it, but the only way your team gets points in this match is if you get there.
So what do South Australia do, play out the draw, and, only just.
According to the reports they flirted with the win at times.
Yet none of their top 5 scored at better than a run every two balls.
Manou seemed happy with the result, because they didn’t lose.
What sort of attitude is that?
English?
They get the same points for a loss as they do for a draw, and how many games do you get the opportunity to win when the other team declare in the first innings.
All the hard work of the Hebrew hammer, meant shit.
All the hard work of O’Brien, Cullen and Tait, meant shit.
Manou, I think you’re a tough cricketer, and you have a huge heart for a fight, but if you think this is the way to bring on a young team then you are a fuckwit.
In his presser he said,
“Look, we competed against a group that played in all three finals last year and we only gave them two points,”.
No one wants to survive Graham, people want to live.
Oh, and don’t think you are off the hook Victoria’s middle and late order.
When I spoke to Bryce a few months ago, I said it’s as if Victoria doesn’t feel like they are in a game unless they have dramatic collapse.
He said they were working on it.
I am not sure they can work on it, it’s a deep seated psychological sexual sado masocistic thing with Victoria, and it shits me to the core.
Well played Sot.
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